Sunday, July 2, 2017

The Small Things

Good things come in small packages. Following on the heels of the Wizard of Awes
we have another treat from the “Wizard of Wood”, North Carolina craftsman Eric
Fuller. Well known for his precision in
crafting complex interlocking mechanical wooden puzzles, Eric has also created
some of the most unique and beautiful puzzle boxes in existence. His recent effort is a series of what he
calls “button boxes”. The idea came to
him from another puzzle he created called the Reactor Box, a fantastically
tricky little puzzle box which waits patiently inside another fantastically
tricky box, the B-Box. I’ve written
about this dynamic duo before, an amazing combined double challenge. The Reactor Box actually holds an even tinier
box inside of it – making this puzzle a triple threat and the stuff of
legends. The tiny internal box floats in
place due to strong magnets, and pushing on it feels a bit like pushing a
springy button. That feeling, and that
mechanism, sent a few novel ideas bouncing through Eric’s brilliant brain and
the button box series was hatched.

Small Button Box by Eric Fuller

The other thing about the idea of a button that appealed to
Eric was how it could be used to exploit our natural human tendencies. He likes to create puzzles which play with
expectations and abuse them – I mean, fool them. Reactor box was a perfect example of how he
used expectations and misdirection to keep the solver stumped. Small button box takes this game to a pure
and simple level, with its single large button.
The box is small, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it is
simple. It has a single red protrusion sticking out of it – the button. Made from beautiful tan striped zebrawood (for
the main box) and bold red Paduak (for the button), it uses the natural woods
in perfect contrast. The game here is obvious – no one could avoid trying - it’s
inevitable, and although nothing happens when you do it (i.e. the box does not
open, and you didn’t really think it would), you can’t help yourself from
repeating the effort over, and over, and over again. Maybe somewhere, someplace in the world, like
the old Stephen Wright joke, a light is turning on and off, on and off, and
someone is yelling, “Knock it off!”

Go on ... push it!!!

The Small Button Box is a truly amazing little marvel. It’s
difficult to fathom the level of precise complexity that is packed inside this
tiny puzzle. Every detail, and every
specific movement, matter when opening it – in fact, ten extremely specific
moves are needed. These moves are not
the standard slide this side down then this side over type, but rather the
stand on your head while humming the Star Spangled Banner type. I hope I didn’t just give anything away. Suffice it to say that random moves won’t
help and there’s a lot more going on here than what one typically expects from
a puzzle box. Eric has even devised a
way, in his infinite mischievousness, to force you to fight against yourself in
the final stage. Small Button Box is a
rather ironic name for this huge challenge.

Midnight Train by Lucinda Sterling

A while back Eric Fuller let me know that one of his favorite
drinks is an Old Fashioned. If you’ve
been following along with me you will know that I am partial to this drink
myself, and have featured a number of great versions, including the classic
original along with its origin story.
For Eric’s Button Box series I thought I would do a series of Old
Fashioneds as well, pairing each box with a nice variation. Let’s start out small, with a simple and
delicious summer twist on the old favorite.

Four Roses single barrel, one of my favorites, works quite nicely

This one comes via Lucinda Sterling, an acclaimed New York
bartender who came from Denver to Manhattan and landed at the famed Milk and
Honey bar in Soho. The owner and
originator of Milk and Honey was the legendary Sasha Petraske, a pivotal figure
in the nineties cocktail revival and a mentor to many modern mixologists like
Sterling. She moved on to Petraske’s
second bar, Little Branch, before becoming managing partner at Middle Branch, his
third effort, where she has become a leading female figure in the industry. Her Midnight Train is a simple, elegant riff
on the Old Fashioned, which substitutes peach liqueur for the standard sugar
cube. With the right bourbon, this
brings out flavors of vanilla and baked dough, and you might just think you are
enjoying a warm summer peach pie. Which
sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Here’s to the small pleasures in life – cheers!

This pair push all the right buttons

Midnight Train by Lucinda Sterling

2 oz Bourbon (Sterling recommends Elijah Craig Small Batch)

½ oz Peach liqueur (Sterling uses Combier)

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Lemon twist garnish and a smile.